Journal box cover seal



Sept. 20, 1955 FIG.

JOURNAL BOX COVER SEAL C. D. FOSS Filed Aug. 27, 1951 INVENTOR CURTIS D. FOSS 72 V/QAW/ ATTORNEYS United States Patent JOURNAL BOX COVER SEAL Curtis D. Foss, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application August 27, 1951, Serial No. 243,780

3 Claims. (Cl. 220-46) This invention has to do with a seal for use in effecting a tight fit between the cover or lid of a railway car journal box and the box itself.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved journal box cover or lid seal member.

Another object is to provide a seal member of the type indicated which is particularly designed to prevent entrance of water between the lid or between the seal member and the wall of the journal box to thereby prevent any possibility of water accumulating and freezing between the mentioned parts and forcing the lid away from the journal box by natural expansion of the water upon freezing.

A further object is to provide a seal member which is constructed in such a manner as to expand into sealing engagement with the walls of the journal box defining the opening into the box when the seal is secured to the cover or lid.

Another object is to provide a seal member of the type indicated which serves to hold the cover or lid firmly closed regardless of the vibrations and jarrings to which the lid is subjected in the normal operation of the railway car.

These and other objects will be apparent from the drawing and the following description. Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 is a central sectional view of a railway car journal box cover or lid with a seal member embodying the invention attached thereto and a fragmentary sectional view of the journal box;

Fig. 2 is a face view of the cover or lid partially broken away;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view on line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the seal; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale on line 55 of Fig. 4.

More particularly describing the invention, numeral 11 generally indicates the body of a railway car journal box into which projects the journal or axle 12 of the car. The walls of the body 11 are formed to provide an opening 14 into the journal box. This opening is usually closed by a cover or lid generally indicated by 15. There are several different types of covers in use today and the one shown is merely used by way of illustration. This cover comprises a plate 16 which is secured to the journal box by means of a pintle 17 which passes through a boss 18 formed on the journal box and through apertured ears 19 on the plate 16.

The cover is shown provided with a wire spring 21 secured by a plate 22 and carrying a roller 23 which bears upon the boss 18. The spring is covered by a housing 25 which is secured to the plate 16 in any suitable manner. The seal of my invention is generally indicated by numeral 28 and is attached to the inside of the plate 16 of the cover by a stud 29 and nut 30, the bolt stud passing through a seal retaining and expanding plate 31.

The seal itself consists of a body of resilient material such as a rubber or synthetic rubber composition preferice ably of a type which is not attacked by oil or grease. The seal is generally rectangular and has a main wall section 33 from which projects an inner flange 34 defining a substantially rectangular opening 35. The forward side of the flange 34 and the main section 33 of the seal define a flat surface 36. The flange 34 is so shaped as to provide a rearwardly projecting thickened portion in the region of the opening 35 as best shown in Fig. 5, the rearward surface 37 of the flange 34 receding forward from said opening toward the section 33.

The seal extends divergently forward of the wall or main portion 33 in a somewhat thinner wall section 40 which terminates in a marginal peripheral flange 41. This flange is formed with a rearwardly projecting rim or bead 42 and with one or more forwardly projecting continuous ribs 43.

The seal member is also provided with a substantially centrally disposed outer flange 44 which extends across the bottom and each side of the seal in the region of the main body of section 33 thereof. Also, a plateau 45 is provided across the bottom and sides of the main body of the seal adjacent the flange 41.

In its use or operation the seal is firmly attached to the plate 16 of the cover by means of the stud 29, nut 30 and plate 31. The latter is provided with a marginal diverging wall or flange 31 which has a slightly greater over-all dimension than the inside dimension of the wall 46 of the seal into which it fits. When the seal member is mounted on the cover the nut 30 is tightened sufliciently to force the plate 31 into the seal enough to cause some outward movement of the seal in a direction toward flange 44 and suflicient also to deflect the flange 34 forward. By reason of the thickening wall section of the flange 34 this deflection of flange 34 has a tendency to force the body of the seal in a direction radially or at right angles to the axis of the opening through the seal member for tight engagement with the wall of the journal box defining the opening 14 when the lid is closed. This is illustrated in Fig. 3. Also, when the lid is closed, the plateau 45 and flange 44 engage the wall of the journal box to effect a seal.

The bead or rim 42 on the flange 41 at the forward end of the seal fits tightly around the journal box wall as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 thereby preventing any entrance of water or foreign matter at this point. The ribs 43 serve to seal against the lid.

The seal should preferably be provided with a vent passage such as provided by the registering holes 48 and 49 in the plate 31 and seal member 25 respectively. Also, the lid should have a vent such as that indicated at 50 having passage 51 therethrough.

While I have shown and described a preferred form of my invention, I contemplate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope thereof as set forth in the claims.

I claim:

1. A seal member for the lid of a railway car journal box comprising a generally rectangular continuous body of resilient material defining a substantially rectangular opening, said body having a main wall providing upper and lower sections and intermediate side sections, the outer surfaces of said sections being inclined convergingly from front to rear of the seal member, an internal flange projecting from said main wall intermediate the ends thereof for a limited distance, a front peripheral flange at the forward end of said main wall, and an outer intermediate peripheral flange between the ends of said main wall extending from the lower and side sections of the main wall, said internal flange having a coplanar forward surface and having a rearwardly projecting thickened inner marginal portion.

2. Sealing means for the end of a railway car journal 

